Ben had a sleepover with friends the night before and had walked one of them to the bus stop when the incident happened.

He told The Plymouth Herald: “My back hit the bumper and then my head hit the windscreen and it went dark for a few seconds I think.

"All I can remember after that was my mates getting me out of the road.

“The man got out of his car and came up to me and said ‘is your head okay?’ and he smelt of alcohol. He got my name and address and then just drove off. It made me angry."

The year eight pupil added: “I’m a bit sore but I’m just in shock that no one came to help me."

Ben hit his head on the windscreen of the man's car and left it cracked

Ben had nine friends with him at the time and three of them ran back to his home nearby on Laira Road to alert his mum of what had happened.

Ben’s mum Claire, 35, said that after the traumatic incident she is now worried to let her son out to play with friends on the streets outside his home.

The mum-of-six, who is training to be a special needs teaching assistant, said: “His friends came running up to the house saying 'he’s been hit' so I ran as fast as I could but when I got there there were no adults about and the car had gone.